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打印
It was a long, slow climb out of the shadows. Yet in 1970, 17 years after I left the Coast Guard, Roots was published. Instantly I had the kind of fame and success that few writers ever experienced. The shadows had turned into dazzling limelight.
爬出陰影所在，是一個漫長而艱難的過程。不過，到了1970年，我離開海岸警備隊十七年之后，《根》發(fā)表了。一夜之間，我擁有了大多數作家都不曾擁有的功名。陰影已經變成了令人目眩的聚光燈。
For the first time I had money and open doors everywhere. The phone rang all the time with new friends and new deals. I packed up and moved to Los Angeles, where I could help in the making of the Roots TV mini-series. It was a confusing, exciting time, and in a sense, I was blinded by the light of my success.
平生第一次，我有錢了，機會之門處處為我敞開。電話響個不停，總是有新的朋友，還有新的合約。我收拾好，搬到洛杉磯，協助拍攝《根》的電視系列短篇。這段時間，我應接不暇，令我精神振奮。在某種意義上，我被成功的光環(huán)蒙蔽了雙眼。
Then one day, while unpacking, I came across a box filled with things I had owned years before in the Village. Inside was a brown paper bag.
有一天，整理行裝時，我看到一個箱子，裝的是多年前我在格林尼治村時的家當。里面有一只棕色的紙袋。
I opened it, and there were two corroded sardine cans, a nickel, a dime and three pennies. Suddenly the past came flooding in like a tide. I could picture myself once again huddled over the typewriter in that cold, bleak, one-room apartment. And I said to myself, The things in this bag are part of my roots, too. I can't ever forget that.
我打開來，看到兩個銹跡斑斑的沙丁魚罐頭，一枚五分硬幣，一枚十分硬幣，三枚一分硬幣。突然，往事潮涌而來。我仿佛看到自己又蜷縮在打字機前，在那個凄冷的單間里。我對自己說，這袋子里的東西也是我的一部分根。我可不能忘了。
I sent them out to be framed. I keep that clear plastic case where I can see it every day. I can see it now above my office desk in Knoxville, along with the Pulitzer Prize, a portrait of nine Emmys awarded to the TV production of Roots, and the Spingarn medal—the NAACP's highest honor. I'd be hard pressed to say which means the most to me. But only one reminds me of the courage and persistence it takes to stay the course in the Shadowland.
我請人把這些東西鑲起來。我把這個透明塑料盒放在每天都能看到的地方。我現在就可以看到它，就放在諾克斯維爾的辦公桌上方，放在一起的還有普利策獎杯，一張有電視版《根》所獲九個艾美（金像）獎的照片，還有斯賓甘獎牌——“全國有色人種協進會”（NAACP)的最高榮譽。要是問我，哪一個對我意義最大，我會感到很難回答。但這中間，只有一樣東西會提醒我，在夢想的陰影里堅持自己的方向需要怎樣的勇氣和毅力。
It's a lesson anyone with a dream should learn.
這個教訓，每一個有夢的人都應該汲取。
